Booze guide: Whiskey: five ways

Look, we could argue all day about the best way to drink whiskey, but isn’t the important thing that we’re drinking whiskey? Speaking of whiskey, we’ve got to go drink some whiskey. Here are five ways the Alive staff likes theirs. Tell us your favorite via ye ole tweets (@ColumbusAlive). Or not. Especially if you’re drinking whiskey. We probably don’t want your hate-tweets.

Bourbon. Neat.

There’s a reason Ron Swanson drinks his Lagavulin neat: Because there’s no need to mess with perfection. Good bourbon, like a good scotch, demands nothing more than an empty glass. So grab your favorite bottle, pour yourself two (or three) fingers and enjoy. —Andy Downing

The Dutch Gentleman

A favorite boilermaker order of mine — clean, simple Dutch lager in a can Oranjeboom and a Bulleit Rye, neat — was given its name by Ace of Cups dispenser of booze/wit, Nathan Reynolds. He’s also probably the only bartender who will know what you mean if you order it. Oh, and sip the bourbon, don’t shoot it. Duh. — Brad Keefe

Named after the famous cocktail bar The Silver Dollar in Louisville, The Silver Dollar Pony is the cocktail that’s been on every seasonal list since Curio opened. Using Four Roses bourbon, Aperol, lemon and rimmed with a fired orange peel, it’s a bourbon drink even those who don’t normally drink bourbon will love. —Jesse Tigges

I was once a whiskey purist. Neat always. Then I actually tried a Manhattan, and then a sazerac, and then an old fashioned and, hell, just give me all the whiskey. If I’m being honest, the price point of most Columbus cocktails initially put me off that road of discovery. Why order a whiskey with a bunch of ingredients I’m ambivalent toward for $10 when I can order a whiskey, beautifully unadorned, for half that? Enter Little Palace, and particularly their Rye Old Fashioned. It’s legit, and it costs $5.50. And now I think of this cocktail as whiskey with a sexy cherry on top. Or in it. Whatever. —Justin McIntosh

The only thing better than a mint julep, is a Bus-Town Julep handcrafted by one of the talented bartenders at Tip Top Kitchen and Cocktails. Ohio Maple syrup in lieu of sugar is a genius twist on the classic cocktail. You can almost taste the Buckeye pride in every sip.